Leaf and Crow
by Fern Paquette
Summary: Leafpool and Crowfeather. There are so many things that could have happened to them... Here's my version.
1. Chapter 1

Leafpool sighed. Everything that had happened had been a complete disaster. Meeting him in secret, running away with him, and now this! KITS, of all things. This isn't what she had planned. _I only wanted to love him. I only wanted to feel loved. I didn't mean to have kits!_ Leafpool was inwardly wailing. To have kits… medicine cats were NOT SUPPOSED to have kits!

"Oh, Crowfeather, the kits... what a terribly fate I've put upon them. No cat will respect them; they're the result of a forbidden relationship." Leafpool whispered to Crowfeather as she nosed her muzzle into his fur.

Crowfeather, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed. "They're our kits, Leafpool. They'll be wonderful, and anyone to say otherwise, I'll claw their ears off," He meowed back gently to her.

She purred and opened her eyes to gaze back lovingly into his. It might have been moons as they sat there, just sharing the love.

They both pulled away at the same instant. The sun was rising, and whispering a quick goodbye, they both left the stream to hurry back to their own clans.

Leafpool grabbed a mouthful of juniper as an excuse for being out. Cinderpelt was bound to wonder. Heading back to camp, she rammed into Thornclaw. _Darn_ she thought _I should've watched where I was going…_

Thornclaw didn't say anything, avoided Leafpool's eyes, and helped pick up all the juniper and brought it to the medicine cat den with her.

Leafpool, having been deprived the ability to talk with the herbs in her mouth, meowed her apologies and thanks as she dropped the herbs for Cinderpelt.

"No problem," Thornclaw replied, giving her a glance, and quickly looking away.

Leafpool found that rather odd, but pushed Thornclaw's awkwardness away, she had other things to worry about. _How am I going to hide my pregnancy from Cinderpelt? She sees everything, and she's a FULLY TRAINED medicine cat! She'll notice my scent change! She'll know I've still been sneaking out! She'll confine me to camp! She'll stop me from EVER SEEING HIM AGAIN!_ The agony was too much to bear.

"LEAFPOOL!" Cinderpelt was screaming.

Roused from her thoughts, Leafpool's only reply was, "huh?"

Cinderpelt sighed. "You've been so distracted! Just like before you left with Crowfeather." Her disapproving gaze swept over Leafpool, "You aren't doing anything like that, are you?"

"No!"

Cinderpelt swept her another glare and sniffed, "Well, I know you're up to something. Otherwise, you wouldn't have brought juniper back, you KNOW we've got more than we need. You should've brought watermint or something more useful!"

Leafpool shrank back. How could she make such a dumb mistake?! She'd never done that before! But then again, she'd never been an expecting queen before either. She sighed again and said "I'll go out and get the watermint now, Cinderpelt."

Cinderpelt sniffed again, "fine. Be back before sunhigh."

But Leafpool was already out the den.


	2. Chapter 2

Pattering about the medicine cat den, Cinderpelt stored the juniper Leafpool had brought back.

_What on Earth has happened? Surely she's not meeting Crowfeather again? No, that can't be true. Crowfeather has a mate. Nightcloud, right? Even Leafpool wouldn't be seeing someone with a mate. Unless she has something else going on? A fight with a friend, perhaps?_

As much as Cinderpelt wanted to believe that Leafpool had had a disagreement with Squirrelflight, she just couldn't bring herself to believe it. Deep down, she knew something was wrong, something had caused Leafpool to be a bundle of nerves and completely unfocused. But try as she might, she didn't want to believe that Leafpool had caused more trouble for herself.

Meanwhile, Leafpool was collecting watermint and thinking about her kits. How could she hide it? While the clan may just think she was getting fat from the plentiful fresh-kill the hunting patrols continuously brought back, Cinderpelt would definitely realize when her scent started to change. After all, she wasn't a medicine cat for nothing. _The only way to make sure the clan doesn't know something is up would be to leave the clan but I can't do that again!_

Leafpool sighed, she couldn't leave the clan, it would raise suspicions, besides, the only reason they didn't suspect her of still seeing Crowfeather was because Crowfeather had found a "mate". Nightcloud was a she-cat that Crowfeather told Leafpool had been padding after him since apprenticeship. In the eyes of all the clans, they were mates but in Crowfeather's heart, Leafpool was his mate. And Leafpool knew that. But as much as that made her feel better, it did nothing for the kits growing inside her!

Grabbing the watermint, she headed back to camp. She knew that she'd have to leave camp one way or another to give birth. Hopefully, she could leave before the scent changed to the milky scent of a queen. But she needed a good excuse to be away from camp for several days. That was a problem.

_Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it right now… I have to give the watermint to Cinderpelt and do what she tells me to do. Perhaps StarClan will help me at the Moonpool tonight._

A horrid thought struck her: _What if StarClan turned her back on her because she broke the warrior code by having kits?!_

_Having kits was nothing but trouble!_

On the other side of the border, Crowfeather was also lost in thought. A rabbit might have hopped in front of him and he wouldn't have noticed it. _We're having kits! We're having kits! We'll be joined forever now! It'll bring us together forever and ever!_ He, unlike Leafpool, was ecstatic about having kits. However, he understood Leafpool's predicament. If her Clan noticed, they would both be in big trouble. But he had no idea how to help her!

The previous night Leafpool had told Crowfeather to stop meeting her until the kits were born. She was exhausted from all the travel and that was mostly due to her pregnancy. She couldn't keep up with the kits, meeting Crowfeather and the normal medicine cat duties. Crowfeather knew that she was right and dejectedly, he headed back to camp.

At the Moonpool, Leafpool was visited by Yellowfang. And she said, "Leafpool, having kits is against the warrior code in every way. But I cannot scold you, for I once walked your path. But I cannot help you either." Leapfool, first felt immense relief. StarClan had not turned their back on her! On the other hand, Leafpool also felt immense dread. How was she supposed to get through this without StarClan's help?!

As the medicine cats got ready to leave, Mothwing called,

"Leafpool, can I talk with you?" Cinderpelt turned and said,

"Go on, Leafpool. I wait for you at camp. Don't take too long."

As the other medicine cats padded away, Mothwing stared at Leafpool.

_Oh no, oh no! Does she realize something? Is that why she wants to talk to me?_

"The prey must be running well in ThunderClan for you to be so plump."

Leafpool gave a nervous chuckle. "Yes. Prey is running well."

Mothwing gave her _a look_ and padded over and began sniffing her.

Leafpool pulled away really fast. "What are you doing!?"

Without looking up from Leafpool's belly, Mothwing replied, "Checking to see if you're expecting."

Leafpool looked at her, mouth agape. "How did you know?!"

Mothwing sniffed. "You underestimate my abilities."

Leafpool stared at her, "But. But. But. Even CINDERPELT hasn't figured it out. Or Littlecloud! How come they didn't realize? Barkface must be ancient and he didn't realize! And what about Kestrelpaw?!"

Mothwing gave her another _look_. "Didn't you realize that I was on one side of you and Cinderpelt on the other? As your scent changes gradually, it will take a while before Cinderpelt realizes. You're not very far into your pregnancy yet, so the others can't notice, but I was right next to you. I could tell. And judging by the fact that you're already very round despite the fact you've still got a couple of moons, I'd say you're expecting more than two kits."

Leafpool just stared at her. "Okay, you're right. Are you going to tell?" Leafpool looked scared now.

Mothwing actually laughed. "Are you serious! You're my best friend! You kept my secret, I'll keep yours."

Leafpool sighed in relief. "But how am I going to hide it?!"

Mothing looked thoughtful. "Your clanmates won't realize for another two moons or so, but Cinderpelt will probably realize in a moon. So, before a moon is up, I'll come to your camp and ask Firestar if I could use your help for something. I'll make it up and you don't actually have to go to the RiverClan camp with me. You can just go find someplace and then go back after you've kitted and say that I didn't need your help anymore. I'll feed some lie to Firestar saying something about how Leapordstar doesn't know about this and could he please not tell. That would explain your absence from the gatherings, because Leapordstar doesn't know that you're in my camp."

Leafpool gaped at her, yet again. "Besides the fact that a million things could go wrong, that's brilliant!" Another thought struck her and her happiness deflated immediately. "What am I going to do with the kits?"

Mothwing nudged her comfortingly, "I can't help you there, you need to figure that out yourself."

Leafpool nodded, gratitude shining in her eyes. "Thank you. I owe you so much," and she disappeared in the undergrowth, heading back to ThunderClan.


	3. Chapter 3

Leafpool sighed as she headed back to the camp with herbs clutched in her mouth; she was just so tired these days! She felt like a blundering fool, so fat. It was a wonder the clan hadn't noticed yet, after all, it was nearing leaf-bare.

There had been so many close encounters; Leafpool would've sworn that if the clan wasn't suspicious, Cinerpelt would most definitely be. After all, it was only after she had returned with Crowfeather that she had become this inattentive cat, even worse than the most inexperienced apprentice.

Her scent was most probably changing and it was quite a miracle that Cinderpelt hadn't noticed yet; this was mainly because Leafpool had taken to spending as little time with Cinderpelt as possible and as much time in the nursery as possible so she could pass her scent off as coming from the nursing queen's scents.

Briefly, Leafpool wondered when Mothwing was going to show up but was distracted again as Cinderpelt handed her herbs to help with Mousefur's sore pads, "Bring those to Mousefur immediately please, we all know how she is when she has to wait…" She suddenly sniffed curiously.

Hastily, Leafpool grabbed the herbs and darted out into the clearing and into the elder's den, hoping that Cinderpelt hadn't had a good, proper sniff. Chewing the leaves into pulp, she rubbed it gently into Mousefur's paws.

"Ah… that feels good," Mousefur purred. Leafpool nodded at her and continued to chew. Suddenly Berrypaw poked his head in.

"Leafpool? Mothwing's here."

_Finally!_ Leafpool was thinking but she pretended to be concerned, "Why?"

"I don't know, you go find out, I'll finish with Mousefur's pads."

"Okay, thanks," Leapfool nodded at him before heading out.

Mothwing was deep in conversation with Cinderpelt and Firestar when Leafpool arrived to hear just the end, "So, if you could spare Leafpool without telling anyone about it, I'd be really grateful… Leapordstar doesn't even know that I really need help, she's too worried about the pride of her clan…" she broke off as if embarrassed that she was going against her leader's commands.

_She's a very good actress_, Leafpool thought.

Firestar was nodding thoughtfully, "It's fine, I understand how hard it must be for you to have had your mentor die so early in your training, and do not fear, I will not mention it to anyone. I am fine with Leafpool going to help you but the final decision is up to Cinderpelt," He nodded respectively to the medicine cat.

Everyone turned to Cinderpelt as she nodded carefully, "Okay, you can go Leafpool, but how long do you think it will be Mothwing?"

Mothwing frowned, as though thinking, "I don't know… maybe a moon, maybe even two. I'll try to have her back as soon as possible, I promise that."

Firestar nodded, "It'll be fine, we do not seem to have any looming battles coming up, we can spare her."

Cinderpelt agreed, "ThunderClan is lucky to have two experience medicine cats."

Leafpool nearly shouted with joy; no more sneaking around hoping that no one noticed her milky scent! She managed to contain it as they headed out of the camp and Mothwing led her to the outskirts of clan territory saying that she could stay there and that Mothwing had to go back to RiverClan now but that Leafpool needed to find a way to alert her once it was over so that she could drop the act.

Leafpool nodded her thanks, gratitude choking her throat. She settled down collecting moss for her nest and the necessary herbs as well as some food because she knew once she started to give birth, she'd be too exhausted to do anything else.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Squirrelflight was wondering about Leafpool's sudden disappearance. While the Clan bought Firestar and Leafpool's story that she had gone on a medicine cat duty, Squirrelflight didn't believe that for a moment. Leafpool had been acting strange for a while and there was also the fact that despite it being leaf-bare, she was still quite round. There was mystery going on and Squirrelflight was determined to solve it.

Padding into the medicine cat den while Cinderpelt was out, she sniffed at Leafpool's nest and gasped, for while the familiar scent of Leafpool was still there, it wasn't the same. There was a different sort of scent to it that Squirrelflight knew she had sniffed at somewhere. And sniffing deeper, she realized that there was a hint of Crowfeather buried too.

Squirrelflight gasped, _She's not seeing Crowfeather still, is she?_ She tried to convince herself that Leafpool wasn't but the evidence was there, right in front of her. She frowned, she knew she had to get rid of this moss before it was obvious. She sighed and prepared herself for the apprentice task and she carefully rolled the used moss out of the den and replaced it. She carefully disheveled it slightly so that Cinderpelt would not notice a difference unless she actually sniffed at it.

There was definitely something going on with Leafpool, and the first way to figure it out was to figure out what that familiar scent was


	4. Chapter 4

The days passed slowly and Squirrelflight, busy with duties, had yet to figure out what was going on with Leafpool.

She sighed with frustration as she picked some freshkill for herself heading towards Brambleclaw.

As she finally settled down, about to bite in, Cinderpelt appeared, looming over her, "Could you please bring something to the queens? The apprentices are out and I'll take care of the elders, but there are still the queens and kits."

Squirrelflight nodded and headed off again, picking a juicy vole, she headed towards the nursery. Pushing the curtain aside, she stepped in and was hit with the spell of kits, queens and the most powerful smell – milk. She nearly gasped out in shock.

She managed to suppress it and gave the vole to the queens before leaving quickly. She tried to recall that scent from a couple sunrises ago… yet, it was that. Fainter, true, but still, it was the scent of milk.

Did Leafpool have the queens or kits over for any reason recently? No, Squirrelflight mused, All has been healthy over there – the queens have had no reason to go into the medicine cat den. That only left one reason – Leafpool was expecting kits… Leafpool herself was a Queen.

Squirrelflight frowned… the idea was just so… preposterous. Leafpool have kits? Just… not logical. She was a medicine cat for StarClan's sake!

But, try as she might, she could not deny the swirling chasm of guilt growing in her… her sister had been expecting kits and she hadn't noticed. And, she was going to be keeping her secret for her. She wasn't planning on telling anyone Leafpool's secret… did that make her just as bad?

Squirrelflight desperately wanted to believe Leafpool was not having kits, but the facts were staring at her straight in the face – the weight gain, the milky scent, the nervousness that surrounded her, the way she had suddenly… disappeared! So that's where she'd gone! It must be! She was waiting until her kits where born…

Well, Squirrelflight thought dryly, Mothwing had certainly come at an ideal time.

But wait… no. Mothwing had come because of that. They must have had it planned! And unexpectedly, Squirrelflight felt a pang of hurt – did Leafpool not trust her enough to tell her own sister?

As much as she wanted to blame Leafpool for the fact that Squirrelflight didn't know, she knew it was her own fault – had Leafpool came to her for help, she probably would have brushed her aside seeing as she was so obsessed with Brambleclaw right now. They had been growing apart slowly as Leafpool had her problems and Squirrelflight was finally living her life.

Well, this time, she'd help, Squirrelflight was determined – she just needed a way to help.

Meanwhile, Leafpool was still staked out in her little mini-camp when the pangs started to come. She was in absolute agony. Why did so many queens choose to have kits when it was this horrible? Leafpool could only guess. Another pang hit her again and she wondered if it was from giving birth or the thought that she wouldn't be able to keep her kits…

Many, many tiring hours later, Leafpool finally had three healthy kits next to her, a fluffy black she-cat, a dark-gray tom, and a golden tom. She sighed, exhausted. It was hard giving birth, after all.

_I'll give it a day or two then I need to figure out what to do with them, I can't keep them… but I really need some rest before I do anything… and the kits can't travel yet anyway._ Leafpool tried to convince herself, but deep down, she knew that she could struggle on if she really wanted to but that was the sad fact – she didn't really want to, after all, what mother wants to give up their first litter of kits?

Slowly, she drifted off to sleep as her kits, nuzzled into her, did the same.

"LEAFPOOL! LEAFPOOL!"

Leafpool started awake – had someone figured out her secret and came to find her? She stayed as quiet as possible, licking the kits to keep them quiet, too. No one must figure out that she wasn't at RiverClan with Mothwing.

Squirrelflight's face peered into the hollow where she was hiding. Seeing Leafpool and the kits did not surprise her, although she did get a feeling of sinking dread, as much as she knew it was true, she had hoped that it wasn't as serious as this.

She slowly padded to Leafpool. Leafpool glared defiantly back at her, her gaze clearly saying _they are my kits, I broke the warrior code, so what?!_ Squirrelflight nodded slightly to show that she understood.

Leafpool relaxed, if only slightly.

"How did you figure it out?"

Squirrelflight frowned, she hadn't wanted to broach this subject quite yet, there were more pressing matters such as what to do with the kits to worry about, but nevertheless, she could see that Leafpool needed to be put to ease that her secret was still safe.

"I figured it out because you left some of your milky scent in the moss… I was so dumb though, I didn't recognize it until I had to bring food to the queens. But don't worry, I didn't tell anyone and I got rid of the moss."

Leafpool nodded slightly…

"So, what do we do with the kits?" At Squirrelflight's words, Leafpool drew her tail protectively around her kits.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt them, but you can't say they're yours!" Leafpool felt an ache in her, but she knew Squirrelflight was right, so she nodded.

"They are Crowfeather's right?" Leafpool nodded again.

"Okay… I suppose we could say that we found them in the forest…"

Leafpool gaped silently, "_We?_"

"Well, duh. You think I'd leave you to deal with this alone?!"


	5. Chapter 5

Something similar to that of warm relief flooded through Leafpool – she wasn't alone, her sister would always be there for her Brambleclaw or not.

Squirrelflight nudged her carefully over to get a good look at the kits.

"They're beautiful," she purred.

Leafpool nodded, pride taking over – these were her kits, hers and Crowfeather's and hers. Then, her spirits plummeted again as she tried to figure out what she was going to do with them.

"What am I going to do with them?" she whispered to Squirrelflight. "I can't bring them back with me and say they're mine! The clan would disown me for sure! I should never have had them…" Leafpool was nearing hysterics.

"Shh, calm down," Squirrelflight soothed.

"Crowfeather… he needs to know," Leafpool turned pleading eyes to Squirrelflight, "please… bring him here, but don't let anyone know."

Squirrelflight nodded and after checking that there was food with Leafpool, headed out.

Heading towards the WindClan border, she frowned. How exactly was she supposed to get Crowfeather away without alerting the whole clan that something was up? _Oh well, get to WindClan first and then come up with a plan,_ she thought.

Slipping over the stream that divided WindClan from ThunderClan, she hid in the bushes praying that Crowfeather would pass through. Sure enough, their border patrol showed up, Crowfeather among several cats. Now… how to lure him away without alerting his clan mates to her presence.

"Crowfeather! …_Crowfeather_!" She hissed quietly.

Crowfeather's ears perched up and he tried to act nonchalant. He had been going on all the ThunderClan border patrols hoping to run into Leafpool and someone was calling his name. Perhaps…?

"You go ahead, I'll catch up – I think I smell something," he told his clan mates.

Squirrelflight sighed in relief as his clan mates headed off without questioning further.

"Leafpool?" Crowfeather's whispered response brought Squirrelflight spinning around to see Crowfeather behind her.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Squirrelflight tried to refrain from rolling her eyes and only barely succeeded, "Leafpool's got three kits in the forest. Come on!"

Crowfeather immediately lost his hostile stance and bounded after Squirrelflight intent on seeing his kits.

"Leafpool! I got him!" Squirrelflight ran ahead to meet Leafpool.

Crowfeather approached slower and had to bite back a gasp. Those were his kits; absolutely perfect. Two toms and a she-kit. Perfect, just perfect.

"What do we do with them?" He voiced the question that was going through all three of their heads.

Squirrelflight hesitated; she had an idea but she wasn't sure if they'd like it.

"Spit it out, Squirrelflight," Leafpool knew her sister well enough to realize when she was holding back something.

"Well, Crowfeather's clan mates will be wondering what happened to him – you told them you had scented something and would catch up. They'll go back to look for you soon. So, say you had scented the kits. WindClan would take them and all would be good. But… Leafpool wouldn't be able to watch them then…"

They all frowned. It made sense and it was ideal. After all, toms can't have kits so Crowfeather wouldn't be suspected of anything. But Leafpool felt her heart ache – being separated from her kits was too much for her to bear. But she knew what would be best for them, and nodded, "It's the only way."

"Name them first," Squirrelflight added trying to bring everyone out of depression.

"Jaykit, Lionkit, Hollykit." Leafpool said quickly with conviction indicating to the blue tom, the golden tom, and then the black she-kit, "I had them picked out the moment they were born."

Crowfeather purred, "perfect."

Nudging the kits along, the odd group made their way to the WindClan border. Just before reaching it, Crowfeather suddenly stopped.

"Hang on, can Squirrelflight pretend to find one? That way, one of them can grow up in ThunderClan."

Leafpool's eyes lit up at the thought of one of her kits being close to her.

Squirrelflight hesitated – was this a good idea? But seeing the hope in Leafpool's eyes, she couldn't deny her sister this opportunity and she nodded. Picking up Jaykit, she prepared to leave and Crowfeather nudged Hollykit and Lionkit towards the border.

"Squirrelflight, you take Jaykit back first, if I turn up the same time as you, the clan will be suspicious."

Squirrelflight nodded and headed into the undergrowth. Crowfeather turned his shining eyes to Leafpool's amber eyes and nudged her one last time.

"Take care of our kits," she whispered. Crowfeather only nodded as he took the kits to WindClan.

As they disappeared into WinClan territory, Leafpool turned and raced to RiverClan intent on telling Mothwing everything.


	6. Chapter 6

"You're kidding!"

"Shush!" Leafpool slapped her tail against Mothwing's mouth peeking out beyond the bushes they were hiding in.

Mothwing batted her tail away, "there's no one there! But seriously! You can't do that! They're YOUR kits! How can you just give them away to WindClan? You could end up fighting them! They could invade the camp and kill you without ever knowing that you're their mother!"

Leafpool ducked her head, "you think I don't know all that? I do, okay? But, I can't keep them. Medicine cats can't have kits!"

Mothwing just looked at her.

"Look, Mothwing, there's no way I can keep them and I'm not going to abandon them. The only thing left is to give them to WindClan to raise while Squirrelflight brings Jaykit to ThunderClan."

"You do realize though, that you're going to have to stop seeing Crowfeather? There's no way you two can keep this up without raising suspicious, or worse, having another litter."

Leafpool looked pained. Mothwing pressed on,

"If you keep seeing each other, Nightcloud is going to be suspicious. There's no way Crowfeather is going to keep his admiration for Lionkit and Hollykit down. They're his kits, for StarClan's sake! And, one day, she's going to figure it out and so is the rest of your clan. You can't do this, Leafpool!"

Leafpool's tail drooped.

"You just go back to ThunderClan, back from your mission, alright? Don't go see Crowfeather EVER again, I'll tell him, okay? And, you'd better not act too weird, or Cinderpelt's going to figure it out…"

Leafpool's eyes flashed with fury.

"You can't do that to me! I love him, Mothwing, and you can't just tell me to stop seeing him and expect me to stop! He's my MATE!"

Mothwing glared back, "I'm only trying to help! Nothing but trouble has come from this! Don't try to pretend everything's good when it's not! YOU TWO HAVE KITS!"

"You think I don't know that? You try having kits! You try being away from your mate forever! It's not going to happen!"

Mothwing snarled and turned around, "FINE! Solve your problems yourself!"

Leafpool's heart sank watching her best friend stalk away. She didn't mean it like that, really. She was thankful for everything Mothwing had done. It's got to be the pregnancy hormones. (A/N: LOL. Do cats have those? xD)

"Thanks…" she whispered into the darkness, "for everything."

Mothwing paused from the other end. Leafpool didn't know she heard and Mothwing would almost feel her heart braking for her friend. It was true, she didn't know what it would be like to lose someone that special to you. She had lost Hawkfrost and that had hurt even though he was an evil cat. But to Leafpool, Crowfeather wasn't a brother who she had to love no matter what, he was her mate. And, Leafpool's not just losing her mate, she was losing her kits, too.

Making up her mind, she turned around and jumped back into the bushes.

"MEOW!" Leafpool started in shock, fur bristling and claws unsheathed, thinking that a RiverClan warrior had found her.

"Relax! It's just me!"

"I thought you didn't want to help me," Leafpool sniffed, turning to smooth her fur.

"I'm sorry, you're right, I don't know what it's like, but I really think you have to stop. It can't be good for you."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in ThunderClan, Cinderpelt was busy checking over the rogue kit that Squirrelflight had brought back.

"Seems heatlthy enough," Cinderpelt meowed, "but, don't like, Squirrelflight, where did you get this kit? The scent is strangely familiar. Almost as though I can recognize it from somewhere…"

Squirrelflight tried not to panic, "Cinderpelt, I found her on the edge of the WindClan border. Surely you recognize the smell from ThunderClan territory, after all, you go there often enough to collect herbs!"

Cinderpelt didn't look fully convinced but she dipped her head.

Squirrelflight picked up little Jaykit and brought him to the nursery.

"I'm sorry, Daisy, he's a stray kit I found, could you nurse him?"

Daisy looked him over, her eyes softened, and she nudged Jaykit towards her.

Squirrelflight sighed in relief. Now, the kits were safe… about Leafpool and Crowfeather though, they've just GOT to stop seeing each other! It wasn't safe and it wasn't right!

* * *

Back in her den, Cinderpelt was suspicious. She knew that scent. It wasn't just any ThunderClan cat's scent. That was Leafpool's scent. Surely she wasn't helping RiverClan cats get rid of kits!

* * *

Leafpool padded dejectedly back to ThunderClan. Mothwing had convinced her (more of forced) her to stop seeing Crowfeather and she was never more heartbroken in her life. First her kits, then her mate. Heading back to ThunderClan Camp with her head hanging, she heard a kits meowing. Her head immediately lifted and her eyes sparkled.

Her kits may never know her, she may never see her mate again, but she hadn't lost them. They were still with her and even if they didn't know it, they had a place in her heart – forever.


End file.
